Protect Yugoslavia
09.10.2024-31.03.2025
On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the assassination of King Alexander I Karađorđević in Marseille, the Museum of Yugoslavia, as the parent institution for Yugoslav heritage, is organizing the exhibition “Protect Yugoslavia”, which will be open to public from October 10. The exhibition follows the socio-historical circumstances in the country after the assassination and examines how the memory of the king was created in order to preserve unified Yugoslavia.
The name of the exhibition paraphrases the alleged last words of King Alexander I. The words were used, as his political will, to preserve the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which at the time coped with internal divisions and external threats.
The exhibition is realised in cooperation with numerous institutions, and thanks to that cooperation, the visitors will have the opportunity to see authentic items, photographs, archival documents, film recordings and works of art that were created with the idea of commemorating the assassinated king. Some items will be presented to the Serbian public for the first time, such as the death masks of King Alexander I and Louis Barthou made immediately after the assassination, which are now kept in the Marseille Museum.
Through a careful selection of exhibits and a multimedia approach, the exhibition shows one of the most significant events of recent history through the lens of the official and socio-political reactions immediately after the assassination (organization of the official funeral and commemoration) and the memory culture encouragement (monumental, architectural and ethnological heritage) with the aim of preserving the unity of Yugoslavia.
A team of authors of this research project are affiliated with the Museum of Yugoslavia and comprise Veselinka Kastratović Ristić, Radovan Cukić, Biljana Crvenković and Aleksandra Momčilović Jovanović, who worked together with numerous collaborators.
The exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, and it will remain open until March 31, 2025.
The Origins: The Background for Understanding the Museum of Yugoslavia
Creation of a European type of museum was affected by a number of practices and concepts of collecting, storing and usage of items.
New Mappings of Europe
Museum Laboratory
Starting from the Museum collection as the main source for researching social phenomena and historical moments important for understanding the experience of life in Yugoslavia, the exhibition examines the Yugoslav heritage and the institution of the Museum
